UnessesaryEplanation.exe by [guˑʃnɔks]

So...@ShinyTrees sent me a message saying "What if I told you FNaF is overrated?".Now, I do understand that people have different opinion, and I do understand that people might not like what you like, or rather, don't understand why you like a certain thing. Big news, I'm a brony.So, it's safe to say that I do understand ShinyTrees' point of view.Buuuuut at the same time I'm still Gouchnox, the guy that makes super long rambling threads for no reason what so ever, which is what I'm doing right now, believe it or not.I'm here to try to explain, and to be as objective as I can be, what makes the popularity of fnaf and why it is famous (and considered a very good game by a large group of people).Yeah, I'm unstoppable.But you gotta understand me, I'm a fan. If someone posted something like "mlp is for little girls it's stupid to watch that show [...]" on my wall.... I will probably... not do anything. Because the rare people that read my rambles do know why mlp is cool, so there's no point in me explaining why it is.Buuuut since a lot of people here are new to fnaf, I'm going to ramble anyway.Do note that I'm not trying to make anyone like fnaf, or trying to impose my opinion. I'm just explaining stuff.So, why is fnaf famous, and a good game ?

Note: I'm gonna say multiple times that Scott Cawthon (the creator of fnaf) is a genius. It's because of the way he made this game, not his private life or whatever, I don't know him.

Because of its originalityFnaf is a horror game. What is the core mechanic behind a horror game ? What makes it scary ? Well, we all have different fears. Depending on our childhood, our natural "predators", or whatever. So... fear is pretty diverse when you think about it. So how do you make a "horror game", that is, a game that can bring fear to everybody ? Hum.. Seems pretty tricky at first, since everyone is different where it comes to fear. So you take advantage of the root of fear: the unknown. Yes, you fear something because you don't know it, now get along with it. People are afraid of the dark, because you can't really see what's up in there, and so there may be a ton of different creepy things. You see the dark, or rather, you don't see what's creepy, so your brain, who likes to fill the gaps, is gonna imagine what could be here. Aaaand that's the base of it. Since every fear is different depending on the person, the dark is the answer: you are gonna imagine what you fear, and be scared of it.How do you keep things unknown, and scary ? By adding more dark ? Yes. Precisely, by making people go deeper in the dark, and discover some new darkness. Keep the person moving, and you will keep its fear up. That's the core mechanic to all horror games: You are moving. You are discovering your creepy environment, ready to be creped out by a creepy creep. Amnesia, Slender... Every horror game is based on that.So... here we finaly come to fnaf. Core mechanic of fanf ? You can't move. Can you tell me the name of another horror game were you can't move ? You're gonna have a bad time finding some. And that's the first brilliant thing with this game: it is original. And that's what makes the unknown: no one knows what to expect ! It's a brand new concept ! You, not your character, but you, in front of your keyboard, are moving in the dark ! You are the one discovering the unknown, because this game is unknown ! It's crazy: nothing is happening, and yet, you are on edge ! You are here, sitting in an office, doing nothing, there are a bunch of cameras changing, nothing to be scared about... and yet is is scary ! Seriously, on night 1 of fnaf1, there's like 3 times (max) where you are attacked, in 9 minutes !And that brings us the controversy: you are on or off. You can be dead scared of it (a lot of people), and you can be like "Waaat ? This is not scary !" (me and ShinyTrees); at least as your first impressions on the game. But there's not really room for an average.

Comments

Because of its gameplayYeah... so the fear in the game is based of the unknown of the gameplay... so, when you start playing for a night or two, you start understanding the thing and you aren't creped out anymore, right ? Well... no. Seriously, there's 5 nights, plus the 6th one, plus the custom 7th night.... and we have footage of an easter egg, being the 8th night. You should start to know the game and not be scared, no ? Aaaand that's the moment were Scott comes out and puts his genius on the table. The difficulty increases as the game goes on. But no... not like your average game. Here, Scott takes advantage of the fact that you are creped out to add a thing to the mix... stress. (dude, this guy is brilliant). The difficulty is constantly raising, too fast for you. It's like someone pushes the volume button up when you're trying to lower it down. Bam, new night, new animatronics ! New mechanics, new things to learn ! And you need to consider the first animatronics too ! Bam new night, new difficulty, new animatronics ! New stuff, all over the place ! They're going faster !Here, the difficulty isn't doing too fast, it's just made to seem like it. You can't stand still on your rock, you have new things coming at you. And we all know the power of the unknown by now... That's another good point with the game: the mechanics are very important. When you play Slender.... meh, you just run, pick up those papers... you can learn how Slender's AI works, but hey... not that hard. Here , everything is changed by the core mechanic of the game: because you can't move, you are more used to your surroundings. The game compensates by a heavy shitload of mechanics. RNGs (random number generator), timers, all those stats. "So... if Chica is at Cam4B, she's gonna attack my door.. but since Freddy is out, and it's better to control him... I need to push him to Cam4B... So, I close the right door, look at pirate cove... Yes, Freddy rushed. So, now, I have blocked the right door, I just have to flash Freddy... hum... Foxy was at his first stage... Considering I'm at 36% and 4am....". Your constantly facing a game that is coded to put you on edge, to make you stressed out even if you are not necessarily scared.When I first started playing fnaf2, I already knew the mechanics by heart. I knew everything there was to know, everything there was to do, every little easter egg... I had never been scared of this game. Never. Like, the jumpscares don't even affect me, because I know how they trigger. But the first time I played fnaf2... man, I was on edge ! It was not creepy, it was stressing ! I couldn't know why, but I was shaking like a leaf, even if I wasn't scared ! Because I was just making sure that everything was going according to the stats, and I was taking a lot of things in considerations ! And that's what's fascinating, you know. It's a good game because it's scary, it's a good game because it is well coded, and it's a good game because you constantly need to know new things, you constantly seek the informations ! And even with that, even if you know everything by heart... Night 7. Man, Scott is brilliant. He added something that allowed you to create your own fear. To your own will ! This is genius. Even if you are a boss, 4/20 in fnaf, and 10/20 in fnaf2; are still insanely difficult. There's always a way you get more stressed out by the game, always something "more".

Because of its loreWhen you think about it... all these elements don't make an insanely good horror game. Yes, they make a good horror game, but nothing too awesome. What makes Slender "scary" ? (I can't say that with a straight face... "Slender scary"...) Anyway, what makes Slender... popular ? Surely, it's not it's gameplay. I mean, it's not that impressive... ( #BreakingOpenDoors ). Well, it's popular because of the myth of Slender. You know, that way too famous creepypasta. Fnaf doesn't have that, right ? False again !When I said that Scott Cawthon was a genius, I didn't lied. He though of every detail. First, we have the hallucinations/easter eggs. If you don't know the hallucinations in fnaf, it's a type of very rare easter eggs, implemented to add a good scare, and to increase the creepiness. We have Golden Freddy in the first game, obviously, but in the same game, we also have the crying child poster, the animatronics facing the player, the "It's me" screen, the "It's me" poster, the "It's me" sign, the Freddy poster, the Bonnie death screen, the heads/endoskeleton facing the player.... There's so much, and some of them are so rare I only saw screenshots on the wiki. It adds depth to the game. It's so freaking rare, that it creeps you out in the long run. How many hallucinations are there ? Do we know all of them ? What do they mean ? Heck, you want a proof that Scott likes details ? There's a very rare hallucination called the "Bonnie death screen", where, very rarely, when you die you will be facing that. Some reports that it lasts for 10 seconds, some reports that it lasts for longer. Some reports that it crashes your game. Some reports that you can get it even more rarely when starting a night. Some reports that there is a rare version of this screen, with white eyes and a even darker screen. It's a freaking easter egg, a really rare thing, and yet, nothing is really sure about it. And people like that !You want details ? The story. When exactly do the game take place ? Is fnaf2 a prequel or a sequel ? What is the goal of the Puppet ? Who is Phone Guy ? Who is the purple man ? Is there multiple purple men ? Seriously there are so many theories about this game that the community is fighting about it. And that's brilliant. Scott made a game where, the more we know, the more questions we have and the less we know. heck, we don't even know if Mangle is a boy or a girl ! And dude, this guy is so good with details... Like, even the pay check at the end of the night.... Just look at the Game Theory about fnaf2, you'll see how deep we are in the detail nitpicking.And even outside the game. Scott is making a 3rd game. What will it be about ? Will it be a sequel or a prequel ? What will it add to the story ? Scott is hinting a lot of things trough very secret ways (source code of his website, banner if the subreddit...), and nothing is more unknown than fnaf.

All in all, I'm not asking you to like the game. I'm not asking you anything. I'm just explaining why so many people like it, or hate it because it's scary, or both. I just find amazing what Scott has done. You can hate the game, you can say that it's boring... but at least, admit that Scott made a good job. Because making a game that gets as popular as that... You've gotta have something.(Oh and the term "overrated" doesn't mean anything when you think about it.)

But each time I'm like... afraid of going out out topic, and saying uninteresting stuff.Cause I could have said a lot here about horror psychology.And like... each time I feel like I'm repeating myself, or not making myself clear.

You were guided by anger. And not an anger I don't understand. As I've said before: I'm happy you didn't have the same level of self-control I did, as it means you didn't have to learn said self-control the way I did.